President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a new federal effort to “surge” military medical personnel to help overwhelmed medical facilities weather the spike in coronavirus cases and staff shortages due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.
And, he said, he is directing his team to procure another 500 million at-home COVID-19 tests in addition to 500 million his administration is already procuring, part of a program to ship the kits to Americans for free through a website that could be up and running as soon as next week.
What You Need To Know
- President Biden on Thursday announced a new federal effort to “surge” military medical personnel to help overwhelmed medical facilities
- The effort comes amid the upswing in hospitalizations and staff shortages due to the omicron variant
- And the Biden administration will work to procure another 500 million tests for future needs, on top of the 500 million they’re currently working to buy and distribute for free
- The president also shared a third new prong to his efforts: free, protective masks for Americans as health officials warn that thin, fabric face coverings may not be as effective
Plus, the president also shared a third new prong to his efforts: free, protective masks for Americans as health officials warn that thin, fabric face coverings may not be as effective against the omicron strain.
The three steps are necessary, Biden said, because “we remain in this pandemic — this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
“If you’re unvaccinated … you are 17 times more likely to get hospitalized,” he said. “As a result, they’re crowding our hospitals.”
Starting next week, 1,000 military medical personnel will begin arriving to help mitigate staffing crunches at hospitals across the country. Many facilities are struggling because their workers are in at-home quarantines due to the virus at the same time as a nationwide spike in COVID-19 cases. The new deployments will be on top of other federal medical personnel who have already been sent to states to help with acute shortages.
The administration’s focus is shifting to easing disruptions from the nationwide spike in cases that is also contributing to grocery shortages and flight cancellations.
“I know we’re all frustrated as we enter this new year,” President Biden said Thursday.
“It’s been a long road but what’s clear is we get through this when everybody does their part, no matter where you live, no matter your political party,” he later added.
The Biden administration has been working to procure 500 million tests to ship to Americans, and the federal website that will be used to distribute the tests is scheduled to go up next week, the president said.
He has also appointed Dr. Tom Inglesby of Johns Hopkins University to oversee the federal testing efforts.
Also next week, he promised an announcement on how the White House would help get people free, high-quality masks to better protect them against omicron.
“I know we all wish that we could finally be done with wearing masks. I get it. But they’re a really important tool to stop the spread,” he said.
On Tuesday, Janet Woodcock, the acting head of the Food and Drug Administration, told Congress that the highly transmissible strain will infect “most people” and that the focus should turn to ensuring critical services can continue uninterrupted.
“I think it’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is: Most people are going to get COVID, all right?” she said. “What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function — transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens.”
The White House was joined by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who recently recovered from his own case of COVID-19, and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. They help oversee the work of the more than 800 military personnel who have been helping civilian hospitals since Thanksgiving, FEMA teams setting up testing sites and the more than 15,000 National Guard members whose work supporting vaccinations, testing and caring for patients is being covered by the federal government.
After Biden’s speech, the White House said the trio would speak with federal personnel who are already on the ground in Arizona, Michigan and New York to hear about their experiences.
Biden also announced that six additional military medical teams will be deployed to Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.
The White House said the teams will support Henry Ford Hospital just outside Detroit, University Hospital in Newark, the University of New Mexico hospital in Albuquerque, Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, Cleveland Clinic and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.
